Lok Sabha elections 2024 updates | Highlights of May 10, 2024

FIRs have been registered against Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar and Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule for alleged violations of model code of conduct amid the Lok Sabha polls, officials said. - PTI

Amid concerns expressed by various opposition parties over the voter turnout data, the leaders of the INDIA bloc met the top brass of the Election Commission.

The meeting comes over the voter turnout data released by the EC in the first two phases, as well as over the alleged violations of the model code of conduct by the BJP leaders during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. - PTI

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai accused the JMM-led coalition government in Jharkhand of looting the people of the state and appealed to voters to give them a befitting reply in the Lok Sabha polls. 

Speaking at a rally in Singhbhum, Mr. Sai alleged that corruption within the JMM-Congress coalition government was the reason for Jharkhand’s stagnation. 

“Though Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are mineral-rich states, Chhattisgarh progressed a lot while Jharkhand remained backward due to corruption and loot.” He emphasised the rejection of the Congress nationwide due to its flawed policies and corruption. - PTI

A high voter turnout of nearly 72% was recorded till 5 pm at four booths in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul Lok Sabha seat where re-polling took place on Friday after EVMs used in May 7 voting were damaged in a fire, an official said. - PTI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for “remaining silent” on the issue of Sandeshkhali due to her “vote bank politics”. Mr. Shah also mocked TMC’s slogan ‘Maa Mati Manush’, saying it has now transformed into “mullah madrassa mafia” owing to the politics of appeasement.

Addressing back-to-back rallies in Ranaghat and Birbhum Lok Sabha constituencies, he said the women of Sandeshkhali were “tortured on the basis of religion”, asserting that the BJP “would not spare a single culprit and they would be thrown behind bars”. - PTI

BJP’s Rajeev Bhardwaj filed his nomination papers from Kangra Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh and Satpal Raizada of the Congress from Hamirpur. 

Voting for all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held in the seventh and final phase of elections on June 1. 

Mr. Bhardwaj, a close relative of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar, is pitched against Congress’s Anand Sharma, a four-time Rajya Sabha member and former Union minister. Sharma filed his nomination on May 09. - PTI

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi asserted that the opposition INDIA bloc will win at least 50 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr. Gandhi was addressing a rally in Kanpur in support of the Congress candidate from the Kanpur Lok Sabha seat Alok Misra.

“(On) June 4, 2024, Narendra Modi will not be the Prime Minister of India, you take it in writing (from me),” Mr. Gandhi said.

“Whatever we had to do, we have done. Now, you will see that in Uttar Pradesh, our alliance is going to get not less than 50 seats. We have stopped the BJP in other states,” he said.

Kanpur goes to polls in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13. - PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the grand old party knows that religion-based reservations are anti-Constitutional and Babasaheb Ambedkar had also opposed it. 

Addressing an election rally at Narayanpet in Telangana, Mr. Modi claimed that Congress is against Hindus and wants to make Hindus second-class citizens. 

“Congress divides the country in the name of religion and caste. Congress knows that reservations based on religion are anti-constitutional. Congress also knows that Babasaheb Ambedkar opposed it,” he said. - PTI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the Congress for “raising question mark” on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and asserted that every inch of it belonged to India and no force can snatch it. 

“Mani Shankar Aiyar is telling us to respect Pakistan as it possesses an atomic bomb. Few days ago, INDIA alliance leader Farooq Abdullah said do not talk about PoK as Pakistan has an atomic bomb. I want to tell the Congress and INDIA alliance that PoK belongs to India and no force can snatch it,” Mr. Shah said at an election rally in Jharkhand’s Khunti. 

He said, “I do not know what has happened to the Congress. A resolution was passed unanimously in Parliament that PoK is part of India. You (Congress) are now putting a question mark on PoK by talking about the atom bomb. BJP’s stand is clear that every inch of PoK belongs to India and it will remain with India.” He said Congress preserved Article 370 for 70 years but Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured its abrogation. 

Urging people to vote for the BJP, Shah said the JMM-led alliance in Jharkhand was neck-deep in corruption. - PTI

Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged the ruling BJP seeks votes in the name of God instead of talking about how it will control inflation or provide employment to people.

Addressing a number of ‘nukkad sabhas’ in support of Congress candidate from Amethi Lok Sabha seat Kishori Lal Sharma, Priyanka Gandhi said while Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims on TV that his government did in 10 years the work that was not done in the last 70 years, the situation on the ground level is different.

Sharma is pitted against sitting Amethi MP Smriti Irani. Targeting Irani, Priyanka Gandhi said her sole intention was to defeat Rahul Gandhi.

She said, “Your MP and BJP people come at election time but do not talk about how they will control inflation, improve farming or provide employment to your children. They come to your houses and say vote for us in the name of God. Did they not do this? They are misleading you. Why not seek votes in the name of work done in 10 years?” “We are also religious people. For all of us, God and religion are very dear, but using religion for politics is wrong,” she said. - PTI

An NGO has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data in “absolute figures” on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has filed an interim application in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that “scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)” of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.

- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is fascinated with Moghuls, Mutton, Muslim League and Mangalasutra and tries to scare people with irrelevant issues, charged the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge.

“Such a cheap political discourse was never seen in Indian politics and it doesn’t suit the stature of Indian Prime Minister,” he said addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Friday. “After three phases of elections, PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are scared,” he said.

Can anyone sneak into another’s house and snatch someone’s Mangalasutra? There is a law in this country. If someone is capable of snatching someone’s property, it was only Modi, he alleged. He said PM Modi was scared of losing power and that is why he was creating an atmosphere of fear among people and dividing them.

NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi poses a threat to parliamentary democracy, stating his unwillingness to form alliances with those who don’t uphold its principles. 

His remarks follow Mr. Modi’s suggestion for NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) to join hands with Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde post Lok Sabha polls instead of merging with the Congress. 

The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren was not possible without the role of the Central government and the leadership, he said. 

“It’s the evidence of its disregard for democracy. In clear opinion is that Parliamentary democracy is under threat become of PM Modi,” the 83-year-old Maratha strongman said, reiterating his stance of refusing to ally with individuals or parties that don’t respect parliamentary democracy.

As Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and BJP’s Subrat Pathak lock horns in this high-profile seat, Kannauj’s famous ‘attar’ manufacturers and potato growers hope their concerns will not go unheard in the political battle.

After filing his nomination for the May 13 polls, Yadav promised to spread Kannauj’s fragrance. During their rallies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah mentioned the importance given by the BJP to ‘attar’ by gifting it to G20 guests last year.

With campaigning at its peak and allegations and counter-allegations flying thick and fast, attar manufacturers of Bada Bazar want them to be heard.

- PTI

PM Modi accused the Congress party of attempting to divide India along religious lines. He reiterated that Congress planned to snatch the reservation of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the OBCs and give it to the Muslims.

“I asked the Congress to give it in writing that they will not divide the reservation given to the SCs, STs and OBCs and give it to Muslims. But they are not answering. They are silent. It means they have a hidden agenda,” the PM said, dramatically remarking, “vanchit ka jo adhikaar hain, Modi uska chowkidar hain.” [Modi is watching over the rights of the deprived classes].

Hitting out at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge said Mr. Modi and his cabinet colleague Amit Shah are “worried” after the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections and they started abusing the Congress party.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Kharge said to the BJP leaders, instead of seeking votes on their “development,” they are abusing the Congress leaders and distorting their (Congress) leaders’ speeches, which according to him, is not required.

Stepping up the attack on the saffron party, he asked “What is PM Modi doing if Congress is getting tempo loads of money from “Adani and Ambani?” 

“After three phases of polls, Modi and Shah Saab got worried. They stopped talking about their manifesto, but only are abusing Congress,” Mr. Kharge said.

- PTI

An INDIA bloc storm is arriving in Uttar Pradesh, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said and asserted that Narendra Modi will not become the prime minister of the country.

Addressing a rally in Kannauj, from where Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is contesting the Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said, “Take it in writing, Narendra Modi will not become the prime minister of India.” The Congress and the Samajwadi Party, both constituents of the INDIA bloc, are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

- PTI

BJP won’t allow anyone to snatch your reservation, party is committed to nation-building, Rajnath Singh said at a rally in Jharkhand.

The corrupt JMM-led alliance in Jharkhand is exploiting people and betraying them, Mr. Singh said.

BJP believes in politics of ‘insaf’ and ‘insaniyat’; JMM-led alliance will be punished for atrocities, he added.

- PTI

The world will witness a “very, very stormy” churn because of conflicts, power shifts and sharpening competition in this decade, which makes it all the more important for India to have a stable and mature leadership, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, Mr. Jaishankar painted a picture of the world radically different from the one we are living in now by the end of 2020s when asked to draw on his nearly 50 years of experience in diplomacy and politics to give an assessment of the global power balance.

Mr. Jaishankar especially referred to the declining influence of the United States, the conflict in Ukraine, the fighting in Gaza, attacks in the Red Sea, tensions in the South China Sea, the challenge of terrorism in different geographies and advent of new technologies as the drivers of the “churn”.

In this context, he added it is imperative that voters in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls choose wisely so India continues to have a stable and mature leadership.

- PTI

Congress never bothered about welfare of adivasis, PM Modi said at a rally in Nandurbar, Maharashtra.

Mr. Modi also said that the Congress is spreading lies on reservation and Constitution.

Congress government in Karnataka included all Muslims in OBC category overnight and gave them reservation, he added.

The prime minister further said that it is the hidden agenda of Congress to rob you of your quota and give it to Muslims.

- PTI

A surveillance team deployed for the Lok Sabha elections seized cash of ₹47 lakh from a vehicle in Mumbai’s Mulund suburb, an official said.

The members of a static surveillance team searched the vehicle on B R Road in Mulund on Thursday evening on the suspicion that it was carrying cash, the official said.

The surveillance team officials recovered ₹47 lakh from the vehicle, which was later seized and handed over to the police, he said.

- PTI

Repolling at four booths in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul Lok Sabha seat is under way on May 10.

The Election Commission (EC) of India on May 8 ordered for the re-election at the four booths after a few electronic voting machines (EVMs) were damaged when a bus ferrying them and polling personnel post-voting caught fire on Tuesday night (May 7) near Sonora Gaula village in Betul.

​​Read the full story here.​​

Reacting sharply to the statement of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar where he had claimed that Pakistan is a respected nation and India should start a dialogue with them, Union Minister Giriraj Singh alleged that the former is speaking the “language of Pakistan”.

The BJP leader also accused the Congress of speaking the “language of terrorists”.

”Rahul Gandhi, Congress, Mani Shankar Aiyar are speaking the language of Pakistan, the country which is reeling under severe economic conditions. I would like to say that Congress should leave this dual policy, India is so powerful that if anyone casts an eye over us, Pakistan will no longer be there. He is speaking the language of Farooq Abdullah, of Pakistan. Congress speaks the language of Pakistan, of terrorists,” the BJP leader said.

- ANI

If one acknowledges the seismic shift within the TMC owing to the re-emergence of the ‘old versus new’ debate that symbolises a larger power struggle between party veterans and its second rung leaders, there’s perhaps no better place to look for it than at the prestigious Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.

Encapsulating contemporary dynamics within the state’s ruling dispensation, seasoned parliamentarian and sitting TMC MP for the last three terms, Sudip Bandopadhyay, will take on his prime challenger, Tapas Roy, erstwhile four-time TMC MLA-turned-BJP candidate, whose departure from the Trinamool Congress catalysed the ‘old versus new’ discourse.

- PTI

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Pawan Singh files papers from Karakat as Independent candidate

Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh files nomination as Independent candidate in Bihar, turning Karakat seat into triangular contest.

Repolling is underway at two polling booths in Bihar’s Khagaria Lok Sabha seat, amid tight security arrangements, an official said. 

The voting began at 7 a.m. at booth numbers 182 and 183, falling under the Beldaur assembly segment of the Khagaria parliamentary constituency, and will continue till 6 p.m., he said. 

Repolling was ordered at these polling booths as voting was disrupted on account of the vandalisation of EVMs on May 7 during the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. 

- PTI

Begusarai has long been known as the ‘Leningrad of Bihar’ or as ‘Mini Moscow’ because of the political dominance of the Communist Party of India (CPI), which emerged in the region to counter the feudalism allegedly practiced by the Congress party for decades.

Over one hundred political workers belonging to the Communist and Congress parties have been murdered in the villages of Begusarai over the years. The BJP entered Begusarai’s political space in 2014 when its candidate Bhola Singh won the Lok Sabha election, and the party’s presence peaked in 2019 when its nominee Giriraj Singh won the constituency, defeating CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, a former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union, by over four lakh votes.

The Begusarai constituency has also been a stronghold of the upper caste Bhumihar community; since Independence, every candidate who has won the seat hailed from this community, except in 2009, when Janata Dal (United) candidate Monazir Hassan won the poll. This time round, BJP candidate and sitting MP Giriraj Singh, a Bhumihar, is pitted against Awadhesh Kumar Rai, a former three-time CPI MLA from the Bachhwara Assembly constituency, who comes from the backward Yadav caste.

Out of total 21 lakh voters in Begusarai, there are over three lakh Bhumihars, while Yadavs and Muslims account for over 2.5 lakh voters each. “But one does not know that backward and extremely backward class voters outnumber all these caste groups in the constituency,” said Abhishek Kumar, a young voter who also runs a news portal.

As the campaign for the May 13 Lok Sabha polls in Telangana is nearing an end, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing two rallies in the State on Friday.

Mr. Modi will attend poll rallies at Narayanpet and Hyderabad, the party said.

Campaigning for 17 Lok Sabha seats had hit a feverish pitch with top leaders-- Mr. Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, among others hitting the campaign trail in the State.

Campaigning for the single-phase polling for the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana ends on Saturday at 5 p.m.

PTI

Union Minister and three-time Chief Minister Arjun Munda is in the fray in the first phase of polling in Jharkhand, which is slated for May 13, with four Lok Sabha seats at stake: Palamu, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes; and Singhbhum, Lohardaga, and Khunti, which are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

Top leaders of both the National Democratic Alliance and the Opposition Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, have campaigned in these four constituencies, which are spread across 10 districts and 23 Assembly segments. Most of the contests are direct fights between the BJP’s nominees and the unity candidates put up by the parties of the INDIA bloc.

In Singhbhum, Congress MP-turned-BJP candidate Geeta Koda is up against the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Joba Manjhi. In Khunti, Mr. Arjun Munda is being challenged again by Kalicharan Munda of the Congress, who lost by a tiny margin last time. In Palamu, the BJP’s V.D. Ram is pitted against political debutant Mamta Bhuiya of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. In Lohardaga, the BJP’s Samir Oraon will take on Sukhdev Bhagat of the Congress, though a JMM rebel is hoping to play spoiler as well.

The Election Commission seized a whopping ₹557.69 crore from March 16, when the model code of conduct (MCC) for the Lok Sabha election came into force, until the end of the final phase of polling on May 7 in the State. This is the highest-ever pre-poll seizure in Karnataka. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, ₹88.27 crore was seized, according to Election Commission data.

This is apart from the seizure of goods worth ₹348.71 crore by the Commercial Taxes Department. These goods include iron ore and ghutka, the proceeds of which would have been used for inducements. Besides, from August last year to March 16, poll personnel seized cash and goods worth ₹537 crore in Karnataka. The seizures include ₹151 crore in cash, liquor worth ₹42 crore, drugs worth ₹126 crore, gold worth ₹71 crore, and other items valued at ₹144 crore.